NV200 – Small campervan insulation, lining and curtains

Insulation Overview

Insulation seems to be an emotive topic on the forums. Some people don’t do much, some insulate for the arctic, some recommend X and some recommend Y. But it appears there is no one size fits all answer. Our van is small, lots of single pane glass, and ultimately not much bodywork. The air volume is small, and with a compressor fridge providing some heat, 2x active bodies (us), and a good heater, then I don’t think top insulation is that important.

What is important, is some insulation everywhere, and a vapour barrier from inside to the bare metal to negate condensation, internal water, and rust.

In the current design, we’ve opted for 4 types of insulation which we think is the most suitable for us.

We will be compromising perfect insulation for extra space

Floor

The floor will be insulated with 25mm kingspan, bonded to the floor, around/with battens, and vapour sealed with aluminum tape 7mm foam/foil backed insulation – 25mm is 18mm bigger and we need the space!

Walls / Ceiling

People recommend professional spray-foam, but for us, this is not the answer as we have very little metalwork, and want to use voids where possible. We are going for 3 types:-

We did consider cheap ebay foil insulation but as we need to bond carpet to this we don’t want to risk it falling apart, so the branded one is the one we used. Same with the tape – best to get a branded tape rather than a cheap one that will melt the glue…

The plan is to use the foam wherever possible and flat. The wooly stuff in voids we can only stuff things. And the foil to go around corners etc. All taped/sealed with the aluminium tape. As you can see, the foil, foam and tape are all vapour proof, so hopefully provide a vapour seal. All will then be covered with mega stretch carpet.

That’s the plan…

Carpet lining

Like it or loath it, its really the only option for DIY (and for many pro converters for that matter!)

Ceiling

Curtains

TIPS

The sliding doors leak water around the handles, and I’d assume the main rear door does too. As such, do not fully insulate/seal these doors, plan to assume these leak and route water to the drain holes accordingly.

Sharp carpet scissors are your friend

If you want similar blinds to us, hide 20mm x 2mm neodymium magnets under the carpet in the appropriate places

Mask, newspaper, spray glue… Then spray oversized cut carpet . Then removing masking tape and paper before trying to fix as the carpet would stick to that. Cover window again, but rest should be OK.

Kneel on something soft!!

Do it on a dry day

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AL RICHARDSON: Hi can I be cheeky and ask the price you paid for for the pull out bed please?

Rocky: Great job. You seem to have a plastic edging to the carpet around the windows etc. Do you mind telling me what...

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